Maker Absent
Maker Absent is a series of works reflecting on years of engagement with women quilters from marginalized class and caste backgrounds in India. The series explores the invisibility and undervaluation of women’s labour across multiple scales: within patriarchal household structures, in the exploitative practices of the fast-fashion industry, and in the broader social recognition of craft. The work also interrogates my own positionality—how my privileged class and caste conditioning initially limited my ability to fully acknowledge their agency. Simultaneously, it considers how generations of structural suppression have constrained these women from claiming authorship over their own skills, rendering the maker absent even in her own perspective. Through this series, I critically examine the intersections of gender, labour, and recognition, foregrounding the persistent absence of visibility, respect, and agency for women makers within both personal and systemic frameworks.
Maker Absent is a series of works reflecting on years of engagement with women quilters from marginalized class and caste backgrounds in India. The series explores the invisibility and undervaluation of women’s labour across multiple scales: within patriarchal household structures, in the exploitative practices of the fast-fashion industry, and in the broader social recognition of craft. The work also interrogates my own positionality—how my privileged class and caste conditioning initially limited my ability to fully acknowledge their agency. Simultaneously, it considers how generations of structural suppression have constrained these women from claiming authorship over their own skills, rendering the maker absent even in her own perspective. Through this series, I critically examine the intersections of gender, labour, and recognition, foregrounding the persistent absence of visibility, respect, and agency for women makers within both personal and systemic frameworks.
Maker Absent-I, 2022 Silk threads and fabric colour on discarded layers fabrics, 90 x 145 cm, at Museum of Modern art, Salvador Brazil
Maker Absent II, 2022 Silk threads and fabric colour on discarded layers fabrics, 90 x 145 cm , at Wereld Museum, Rotterdam The Netherlands
Maker Absent II (backside), 2022 Silk threads and fabric colour on discarded layers fabrics, 90 x 145 cm , at Fuse gallery NDSM Amsterdam The Netherlands
Maker Absent III, 2022 Silk threads and fabric colour on discarded layers fabrics, 90 x 145 cm
